`Case No. 2014-00003
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`UNITED STATES PATENT AND TRADEMARK OFFICE
`______________________
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`BEFORE THE PATENT TRIAL AND APPEAL BOARD
`______________________
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`AKER BIOMARINE AS and ENZYMOTEC LTD.
`Petitioners
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`v.
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`NEPTUNE TECHNOLOGIES AND BIORESSOURCES INC.
`Patent Owner
`
`______________________
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`CASE IPR2014-000031
`U.S. Patent No. 8,278,351 B2
`______________________
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`PATENT OWNER’S OPPOSITION TO PETITIONER
`AKBM’S MOTION FOR ADDITIONAL DISCOVERY
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`1 Case IPR2014-00556 has been joined with this proceeding.
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`Patent Owner’s Opposition
`Case No. 2014-00003
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`Aker’s expansive requests are not routine discovery and are not favored by the
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`interests of justice. The requested materials are not relevant, let alone useful, and Aker
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`could present analogous information through other means. In fact, Aker itself characterizes
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`the requested discovery as cumulative of a “wealth” of allegedly similar evidence already of
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`record. (E.g., Mot. at 8-10.)
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`Unable to satisfy the requirements for routine or additional discovery under 37 C.F.R.
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`42.51(b), Aker resorts to casting unfounded aspersions at Neptune and injecting arguments
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`about the merits issues in these proceedings. The requested documents must be relevant,
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`Aker insists, because Neptune did not agree to produce them. This notion is baseless and
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`hypocritical. Neptune did not agree to Aker’s requests because they seek irrelevant and
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`highly confidential materials, previously produced only pursuant to a stringent ITC protective
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`order. There is nothing nefarious about Neptune’s desire to protect its proprietary
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`information. Indeed, Aker itself refused to produce its confidential ITC documents because
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`it did not want to “waive” the protections of the ITC’s order.
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`Neptune should not be forced to put a thousand-plus pages of highly sensitive and
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`irrelevant information into the hands of its competitors’ prosecuting attorneys and,
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`potentially, the public domain. The Board should deny Aker’s Motion. In addition, the Board
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`should expunge the portions of Aker’s Motion that are, as detailed below, unauthorized
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`arguments on the merits and wholly unrelated to Aker’s discovery requests, which Aker
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`included in an effort to circumvent the page limits for Petitioners’ Reply.
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`1.
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`I.
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`Patent Owner’s Opposition
`Case No. 2014-00003
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`THE REQUESTED DISCOVERY IS HIGHLY CONFIDENTIAL AND SUBJECT TO
`AN ITC PROTECTIVE ORDER
`The materials Aker requests are confidential documents Neptune produced in prior
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`litigation between the parties before the U.S. International Trade Commission (“ITC”).
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`Neptune, without challenge from Aker, designated all of the requested documents as
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`“Confidential Business Information” (CBI) pursuant to the ITC Protective Order. All parties
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`are bound under the ITC protective order to use CBI solely for purposes of the ITC
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`Investigation, which is now terminated.
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`Neptune attempted to reach a mutual agreement with Petitioners to use certain CBI
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`documents in this proceeding, but Petitioners refused to enter into such an agreement.
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`Petitioners would not even negotiate the issue in good faith. Accordingly, during the May
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`28, 2014 conference call with the Board, Neptune proposed a procedure for requesting
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`and/or objecting to the use of CBI documents. See NEPN Ex. 2027, 31:12-36:2. Aker
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`opposed Neptune’s request and argued that use of Aker CBI documents would mean
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`“waiving our [Aker’s] confidentiality concerns.” Id. at 36:22-37:1. Aker’s counsel further
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`stressed that any agreement to use CBI documents “needs to be reciprocal and the
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`parties still need to agree on that.” Id. at 36:13-17 (emphasis added).
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`A reciprocal agreement was never reached. As a result, Neptune was barred from
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`using Petitioners’ relevant CBI documents in depositions and in its Patent Owner Response.
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`2.
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`Patent Owner’s Opposition
`Case No. 2014-00003
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`Now speaking out of the other side of its mouth, Aker urges the Board to ignore
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`Neptune’s confidentiality interests and order a voluminous, indiscriminate production of
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`Neptune CBI. Aker’s arguments ring hollow in light of its refusal to produce its CBI absent a
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`“reciprocal” agreement. The documents Aker requests are also far more sensitive than the
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`small number of documents Neptune requested from Aker. The requested Neptune
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`documents disclose, for example, details regarding Neptune’s commercial manufacturing
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`processes, business plans, and proprietary research and development activities.
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`While Neptune agreed to a separate protective order for this IPR, the IPR protective
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`order was drafted to cover the limited scope of discovery available in IPR, not the broad
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`discovery available in the ITC. See Garmin Int’l, Inc. v. Cuozzo Speed Techs. LLC, Case
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`No. IPR2012-00001, Paper No. 26 at 5 (P.T.A.B. Mar. 5, 2013) (“in inter partes review,
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`discovery is limited as compared to that available in district court litigation.”). Given the
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`limited scope of discovery, IPR protective orders are logically more limited than protective
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`orders that the ITC or district courts may issue. For example, Neptune’s understanding is
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`that the Board must retain the right to declassify confidential information, and that
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`prosecution bars are not permitted. See U.S.P.T.O. Trial Practice Guide, App’x B; CRS
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`Adv. Techns., Inc. v. Frontline Techs., Inc., Case No. CBM2012-00005, Paper 43 at 3
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`(P.T.A.B. May 28, 2013) (“A protective order that deviates from the Board’s default
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`protective order must nonetheless include [mandatory] terms as outlined in the Office
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`Practice Guide”).
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`3.
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`Patent Owner’s Opposition
`Case No. 2014-00003
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`Accordingly, the parties agreed that this IPR protective order would cover CBI
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`documents only by mutual agreement. NEPN Ex. 2033. ¶ 6. Aker itself argued that
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`producing CBI under an IPR protective order would “waiv[e]” the protections ordered by the
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`ITC. This does not mean this IPR protective order is “deficient,” as Aker claims, but simply
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`that it does not and cannot sufficiently cover the Neptune CBI Aker demands. The problem
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`is not with the IPR protective order, but with Aker’s requests for highly confidential
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`information that is, as detailed below, wholly irrelevant to this proceeding.
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`II.
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`AKER’S REQUESTS ARE NOT ROUTINE DISCOVERY
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`Aker’s requests do not call for routine discovery. “Routine discovery under 37 C.F.R.
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`§ 41.51(b)(1)(iii) is narrowly directed to specific information known to the responding party to
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`be inconsistent with a position advanced by that party in the proceeding, and not broadly
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`directed to any subject area in general within which the requesting party hopes to discover
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`such inconsistent information.” Garmin at 4. Neptune has produced all information covered
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`by routine discovery, and knows of no information in its possession that is inconsistent with
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`positions it has advanced in this proceeding.
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`III.
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`AKER’S REQUESTS FAIL THE GARMIN TEST FOR ADDITIONAL DISCOVERY
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`To obtain something more than routine discovery, Aker must prove that its requests
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`meet the demanding five-factor “interest of justice” test set forth in Garmin. Aker fails to
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`meet this burden. Its requests fail under at least Garmin factors 1 and 3 because the
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`4.
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`Patent Owner’s Opposition
`Case No. 2014-00003
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`information they seek to elicit is not useful, and because equivalent information is available
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`through other means that do not risk compromising Neptune CBI.
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`A. CaPre email (RX-0456C)
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`This 2010 internal email purports to summarize heat treatments (all well below
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`125°C) performed on CaPre®, a product manufactured by a Neptune subsidiary. Aker
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`argues that RX-0456C relates to whether or not hydrolysis will occur when Beaudoin’s oil is
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`heated to 125°C for 15 minutes per the required Beaudoin heating step.
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`Testing of a finished commercial product manufactured nearly a decade after the
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`‘351 Patent priority date is not relevant, let alone “useful,” to determining how a crude krill oil
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`extract made in accordance with Beaudoin would degrade as a result of Beaudoin’s heating
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`step. Aker would have the Board believe that any krill oil responds to heating in the same
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`way, despite the record evidence to the contrary. It is undisputed that an oil’s susceptibility
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`to hydrolysis is influenced by water and free fatty acid content.2 The water content and
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`other relevant characteristics of a refined commercial oil like CaPre® are not analogous to
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`Beaudoin’s crude krill oil fractions. This request therefore fails under Garmin factor 1.
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`2 See, e.g., NEPN Ex. 2060, p. 6 (showing the “smoke point” of soybean oil). Neptune has
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`not, as Aker claims, equated soybean oil with Beaudoin krill oil; Neptune has cited the
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`smoke point diagram to illustrate the general principle that an oil’s free fatty acid content will
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`affect the temperature at which hydrolysis occurs. NEPN Ex. 2059, Jaczynski Decl., ¶ 18.
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`5.
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`Patent Owner’s Opposition
`Case No. 2014-00003
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`Even if testing on a commercial product could be useful, Aker’s request still fails
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`under Garmin factor 3 because Aker has or could have obtained data of this nature through
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`other means. CaPre® is no more similar to Beaudoin oil than Aker’s own krill oil products.
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`If Aker wants to rely on this type of data, it should submit analyses on its own products, or
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`on the numerous “recreation” Beaudoin oil samples it has commissioned.
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`B. Transcripts from ITC Depositions of Dr. Fotini Sampalis (Vols. I-III)
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`These transcripts comprise three full days of testimony given by Dr. Sampalis as a
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`fact witness, and specifically, as a Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 30(b)(6) corporate
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`representative on dozens of topics that are undisputedly irrelevant here. The nearly 900
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`pages of testimony are replete with Neptune CBI. For example, in response to topics
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`related to the existence of a “domestic industry” under 19 U.S.C. § 1337, a disputed issue in
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`the ITC litigation, Dr. Sampalis testified about Neptune’s sales, distribution chain, and
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`business plans. Dr. Sampalis also testified in extensive detail about Neptune’s proprietary
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`manufacturing processes and research and development activities.
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`There is no apparent reason why “the subjective mindset or opinions” of the inventor
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`would be useful here. See Intri-Plex Techs. v. Saint-Gobain Performance Plastics Rencol
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`Ltd., Case No. IPR2014-00309, Paper No. 40 at 12 (P.T.A.B. Sept. 4, 2014); see also Apple
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`Inc. v. Achates Reference Publ’g, Inc., Case No. IPR-2013-00080/81, Paper 28 at 3
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`(P.T.A.B. July 2, 2013) (denying leave to file motion seeking production of inventor
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`deposition testimony from related litigation). Aker claims that Dr. Sampalis gave testimony
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`6.
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`Patent Owner’s Opposition
`Case No. 2014-00003
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`relevant to Beaudoin’s heating step, but that testimony was actually about Neptune
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`commercial manufacturing processes, and so is not relevant or useful for the reasons
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`detailed in Section III(A) above. To the extent Dr. Sampalis gave any testimony about the
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`Beaudoin patent, Aker suggests no reason why such testimony would be useful or beyond
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`what any one of Aker’s team of experts could provide.
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`C. Report on NKO® (RX-0398C)
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`Contrary to Aker’s assertion, this study of Neptune’s NKO® product does not relate
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`to, let alone “undermine,” Neptune’s proposed construction of the term “about 5%,” which
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`appears in claims 5 and 28. Claim construction is a question of law on which this
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`confidential study, created six years after the ‘351 Patent priority date, has no bearing.
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`Furthermore, while NKO® embodies certain inventions of the ‘351 Patent, Neptune has not
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`contended that NKO® practices claim 5 or 28.
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`This request also fails under Garmin factor 3. If Aker wants to submit testing of
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`NKO®, it can buy the product and run its own analyses; it does not need discovery of
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`Neptune’s confidential records.
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`D. Transcript and Exhibits 4 and 5 from ITC Deposition of Pierre St-Jean
`These documents are not relevant to Neptune’s criticisms of Petitioners’ alleged
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`Beaudoin repeats. These documents relate to a failed attempt by Mr. St-Jean, a Neptune
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`employee, to repeat the Beaudoin patent in 2009. In his 2009 experiment, Mr. St-Jean
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`deviated from his superiors’ instructions and, by his own admission, did not faithfully repeat
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`7.
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`Patent Owner’s Opposition
`Case No. 2014-00003
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`the Beaudoin method. Accordingly, Neptune did not submit the 2009 experiment to the
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`Patent Office because it is irrelevant to how a person of ordinary skill in the art would
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`faithfully repeat the Beaudoin patent.3
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`IV.
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`AKER’S UNAUTHORIZED MERITS ARGUMENTS SHOULD BE EXPUNGED
`Aker has improperly utilized its Motion as a vehicle for merits arguments unrelated to
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`its discovery requests. (See, e.g., Mot. at 3-10.) The Board authorized Aker to file a
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`“motion requesting additional discovery,” not general briefing on the disputed issues in this
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`proceeding. Paper 79 at 3 (Sept. 3, 2014).
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`The Board should expunge the unauthorized portions of Aker’s brief pursuant to 37
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`C.F.R. § 42.7(a). See Illumina, Inc. v. Trustees of Columbia Univ., Case No. IPR2012-
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`00006, Paper 34 (P.T.A.B. Apr. 18, 2013) (expunging Petitioner’s filing because it contained
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`improper argument and evidence). Aker’s extraneous merits briefing is a clear attempt to
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`circumvent the page limits for Petitioners’ Reply. Giving Aker additional opportunity for
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`3 Mr. St-Jean offered no expert opinions in the ITC case, and his deposition testimony
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`indicates that he was not one of skill in the art in 2001 under either side’s proposed
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`definition.
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`8.
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`Patent Owner’s Opposition
`Case No. 2014-00003
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`merits argument would prejudice Neptune, particularly since Neptune has already submitted
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`its Patent Owner Response and thus cannot respond to Aker’s new arguments.4
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`Accordingly, the Board should expunge the following portions of Aker’s brief and the
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`associated exhibits: section I(a); section I(c); and AKBM Exhibits 1093, 1094, 1098-1100,
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`1102-1103. Examples of Aker’s improper arguments contained in these portions are set
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`forth below.
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` “It is undisputed that the claimed krill extracts need contain only one
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`molecule of the Claimed Phospholipid in order to anticipate the independent
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`claims at issue” (Mot. § I(a), p. 3; see also p. 4)
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`This argument is unrelated to Aker’s discovery requests and is also incorrect. The
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`independent claims at issue require other elements besides Claimed Phospholipid,5 for
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`4 While the Board permitted Neptune additional pages for this Opposition in order to
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`address the improper portions of Aker’s Motion, these additional pages are not sufficient to
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`substantively address the broad scope of merits issues Aker raises. In addition, Neptune
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`has no opportunity to submit evidence, including expert testimony, in response to Aker’s
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`new arguments. Failure to expunge these unauthorized merits arguments from Aker’s brief
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`would therefore prejudice Neptune.
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`5 Neptune uses the term “Claimed Phospholipid” as defined at page 3 of Aker’s Motion to
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`refer to the specific phospholipids recited in the ‘351 Patent claims.
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`9.
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`Patent Owner’s Opposition
`Case No. 2014-00003
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`example, that the extract be “suitable for human consumption.” AKBM Ex. 1001 (claims 1
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`and 24). Nor is it “undisputed” that a single molecule of Claimed Phospholipid is necessarily
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`sufficient to satisfy the Claimed Phospholipid limitation. For example, as Neptune has
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`argued, if an extract does not have detectable amounts of Claimed Phospholipid, one
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`cannot conclude that the Claimed Phospholipid is present. See Neptune Patent Owner
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`Response, Paper 66, pp. 29-30 (July 1, 2014). In other words, Aker cannot satisfy its
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`burden of proof by arguing that an extract could hypothetically contain elements that were
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`not detected.
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` “There is only one place in the ‘351 Patent specification that purports to teach
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`how to make the allegedly inventive extracts … using words [ ] similar to
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`those of Beaudoin I” (Mot. § I(c)(1), p. 5)
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`In this section, Aker rehashes its argument that the process disclosed in the ‘351
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`Patent is “similar” to the process disclosed by Beaudoin, and further argues that there “is
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`only one place” in the ‘351 specification that discloses how to practice the invention. (Mot.
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`at 4.) Aker does not even attempt to connect these arguments to its discovery requests.
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`Moreover, these arguments misapprehend the ‘351 Patent and its teachings. The
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`‘351 Patent does not state that “Beaudoin I’s methods could be used to produce its claimed
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`extracts.” (See Mot. at 5.) The ‘351 specification clearly distinguishes itself from Beaudoin,
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`for example, by its focus on recovery of intact phospholipids, an idea Beaudoin does not
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`teach or suggest. To preserve intact phospholipids, the ‘351 Patent teaches the avoidance
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`10.
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`Patent Owner’s Opposition
`Case No. 2014-00003
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`of excessive heat and specifically, avoidance of the heating step required by Beaudoin’s
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`method. The examiner agreed the ‘351 claims were novel over Beaudoin I.6
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` “Dr. Jaczynski admitted … that following Beaudoin’s procedure, the Claimed
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`Phospholipid is present before and after the alleged heating step”
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`(Mot. § I(c)(1), p. 7 and associated AKBM Exs. 1093 and 1094)
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`This argument is misleading and unrelated to Aker’s discovery requests. In the cited
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`portion of Dr. Jaczynski’s deposition testimony, which is from the parties’ prior ITC litigation,
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`Dr. Jaczynski states he was not opining that Beaudoin’s heating step would necessarily
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`destroy every last molecule of Claimed Phospholipid. (See Mot. at 7.) This is not an
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`admission that a single molecule, or detectable amounts, of Claimed Phospholipid would
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`always be present after the heating step. Indeed, Aker’s alleged recreations prove that
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`following the heating step, Claimed Phospholipid is not necessarily present in detectable
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`amounts. See Neptune Patent Owner Response, Paper 66, pp. 29-30 (July 1, 2014).
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` “the only experiments Neptune has conducted confirm Beaudoin I anticipates”
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`(Mot. § I(c)(3), p. 8, and associated AKBM Exs. 1098-1100, 1102-1103)
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`6 The ‘351 specification also teaches how to practice the invention in many places other
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`than the few lines Aker cites. See, e.g., Neptune Patent Owner Response, Paper 66, pp.
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`12, 14 (July 1, 2014).
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`11.
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`Patent Owner’s Opposition
`Case No. 2014-00003
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`Aker puts forth extensive argument, and thousands of pages of new exhibits,
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`regarding prior Beaudoin recreations attempted by Neptune. These prior Neptune
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`experiments are irrelevant to Aker’s discovery requests.
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`As Aker knows full well, the 2009 Neptune experiment Aker cites was a failed
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`attempt to recreate Beaudoin. In the prior ITC litigation, Neptune produced unchallenged
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`evidence that the 2009 Beaudoin experiment conducted by Pierre St-Jean failed to faithfully
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`repeat the prior art process and so was irrelevant to anticipation. See infra section III(D).
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`Aker’s accusation that Neptune “hid” this experiment from the PTO (Mot. at 10) is as
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`baseless as it is irrelevant to Aker’s motion for additional discovery.
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`V.
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`CONCLUSION
`For the foregoing reasons, Aker’s motion should be denied, and the Board should
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`expunge the following portions of Aker’s motion and the associated exhibits: section I(a);
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`section I(c); and AKBM Exhibits 1093, 1094, 1098-1100, 1102-1103.
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`Respectfully submitted,
`COOLEY LLP
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`/J. Dean Farmer /
`J. Dean Farmer, Ph.D.
`Reg. No. 57,917
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`By:
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`Dated: September 16, 2014
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`COOLEY LLP
`ATTN: Patent Group
`1299 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
`Suite 700
`Washington, DC 20004-2400
`
`Tel: (617) 937-2371
`Fax: (202) 842-7899
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`12.
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`Patent Owner’s Opposition
`Case No. 2014-00003
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`CERTIFICATION OF SERVICE UNDER 37 C.F.R. §§ 42.6(e), 42.205(b)
`I, J. Dean Farmer, Ph.D., hereby certify that the foregoing PATENT OWNER’S
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`OPPOSITION TO PETITIONER AKBM’S MOTION FOR ADDITIONAL DISCOVERY was
`served electronically (as consented to by Petitioners) on September 16, 2014, the same day
`as the filing of the above-identified document in the United States Patent and Trademark
`Office (USPTO), upon:
`
`Amanda Hollis
`amanda.hollis@kirkland.com
`Hand delivery address:
`KIRKLAND & ELLIS
`300 North LaSalle
`Chicago, IL 60654
`Telephone: 312-862-2011
`Facsimile: 312-862-2200
`Reg. No. 55,629
`
`
`
`J. Mitchell Jones
`jmjones@casimirjones.com
`docketing@casimirjones.com
`Hand delivery address:
`CASIMIR JONES SC
`2275 Deming Way, St. 310
`Middleton, WI 53562
`Telephone: (608) 662-1277
`Facsimile: (608) 662-1276
`Reg. No. 44,174
`
`Dated: September 16, 2014
`
`COOLEY LLP
`ATTN: Patent Group
`1299 Pennsylvania Avenue, N.W.
`Suite 700
`Washington, DC 20004-2400
`Tel: (617) 937-2371
`Fax: (202) 842-7899
`
`
`
`110160336
`
`
`
`Elizabeth J. Holland
`eholland@goodwinprocter.com
`Goodwin Procter LLP
`The New York Times Building
`620 Eighth Avenue
`New York, NY 10018
`Telephone: (212) 813-8800
`Facsimile: (212) 355-3333
`Reg. No. 47,657
`
`Cynthia Lambert Hardman
`chardman@goodwinprocter.com
`Goodwin Procter LLP
`The New York Times Building
`620 Eighth Avenue
`New York, NY 10018
`Telephone: (212) 813-8800
`Facsimile: (212) 355-3333
`Reg. No. 53,179
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`
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`Respectfully submitted,
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`COOLEY LLP
`
`/J. Dean Farmer/
`J. Dean Farmer, Ph.D.
`Reg. No. 57,917
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`
`
`By: